Rotary Cutter Need advice on 6' rotary cutter

[Ford850]

Tscott9330,
One thing you should also consider is the lowest cutting height. I made the mistake of not checking that and have a King Kutter 6' that will only mow down to 4 or 5". It has has worked fine but now that I have my areas cleaned up I want to mow lower. That seems rather low until you actually cut with it and end up with 6" height. So if you will ever want to cut close to a finish mower with it, check into the lowest cutting height.

 

[Soundguy]

The kicker to that is that $$ does not equal quality.. on either side of the equation.

Yes.. generally cheaper$$ items are made cheaper and are lighter duty.. etc. And more expensive units are built better.. etc. However I've seen plenty of cases where 2 similarly priced models show quite a bit of disparity between materials and workmanship.

A dealer up the road from me sells KK, howse, kodiak, and chinese implements. Looking at mowers, for instance, On the economy side, the howse and KK and kodiak are all within 50$ of price, and the chinese mower was about 100$ cheaper. The chinese one is visibly cruder.. metal joints that don't match up and don't have good weld beads from edge of joint to edge. Steel quality looks rougher.. not to mention paint/surface quality is rougher.. some suspension struts and members look inferior to the other 3 units. The KK and the howse were of similar quality, materials and workmanship. the kodiak was somewhere between the chinese and the KK/Howse. Ironically, the gear boxes all looked similar in design and quality... ) From that 'spread', the KK/Howse would be the clear choice out of the group.

Now flip up to larger machines.. for instance.. my HD120 howse 10' mower ( HD model ) vs my JD1517 batwing. The 1517 is considered to be a light duty mower from jd.. but lets face it.. that green painted beast cost lots of money economy or not. Compairing the 2 units.. the howse has heavier metal, just as good looking welds, larger gear boxes, etc.. the list goes on. I'm actually un-impressed witht he actual design of the JD mower.. it's got plenty of spots that just beg to be problems. I looked at Howse's 15' mower ( same dealer as above ).. The howse was 3999$ cheaper than an equivalent new jd unit similar to mine. I hate to say it.. but the howse is built better and cheaper. That JD green paint is just inflating the $$.

If I hadn't of gotten such a good deal on my jd batwing.. I'd have opted for the howse batwing. $=/=value 100% of the time... that was my only point to this post... etc.


soundguy

The original poster wanted to know the rationale behind purchasing a more expensive brand of mower vs. a cheap brand. He was inquiring as to the differences. And that's where the thread went.

There are differences. In many instances, those differences are more than adaquate justification for the added cost. Likewise, many instances there's enough difference that the less expensive models aren't practical, nor are they really such a great deal when you look at their shortcomings.

Since the OP was interested in those differences, there's a strong possibility that he has doubts as to which "grade" he might need.

 

[Tscott9330]

Well, as the original poster I guess I should chime in as to exactly what I wanted to know. First off, let me first say that I am a big fan of getting the good stuff and using it until it dies.

In this case I am on a budget and do not foresee using this cutter for anything other that mowing weeds and grass. So what I really want to know is, do the cheaper brands fall apart no matter how they are used or if used as they were intended will they last indefinitely as long as maintained properly?

If I use the medium duty Howse unit ($926.00 I believe) as only a mower and not as a tool for clearing 2" to 3" saplings will it last as long as a more expensive unit that is not used as conservatively?

Like I said, the property is heavily wooded with very Little under growth and there will really be no opportunity to drag it into the woods and cut trees. As for the hours put on the unit, at the very most it will be mowing 20 acres of pasture (currently only 7 acres seeded and cleared) and that is if i clear the entire parcel and seed it. I suppose if it rains enough I could be mowing every weekend for a few hours, but more likely it will be ever 2 weeks or so.

One thing you should also consider is the lowest cutting height. I made the mistake of not checking that and have a King Kutter 6' that will only mow down to 4 or 5". It has has worked fine but now that I have my areas cleaned up I want to mow lower. That seems rather low until you actually cut with it and end up with 6" height. So if you will ever want to cut close to a finish mower with it, check into the lowest cutting height.

As far as the height of cut goes, anything around the house will be finished with a smaller riding mower to give us a yard. But the lower I can skin it first the better.

At this point it sounds to me that the Bush Hog is a bit of a luxury as it costs about $500 more that the medium duty Howse. I am leaning to wards this Howse unit as a good compromise. Please keep the info coming as I am still not set.

Tom

 

[Soundguy]

At this point, you are down to getting opinions based on usage experience.

So far you know that:

1, a well built and expensive unit, used lightly, will likely last a LOOONG time.

2, a well built and expensive unit, will be the most $$ out of your choices between the economy and medium duty units.

3, you've got a mix of opinions from homeowners, real farmers, hobby farmers, and professional 'mow every day' kind of people.

The guys that mow every day likely don't even consider anything other than the toughest most reliable unit they can afford... they don't like the down time.. down time is lost work.. lost work is lost $$

Some people are thrifty and / or will take their chances, or simply won't / can't spend mor ethan what an economy unit costs.

4, if you use an economy cutter in a HD fashion.. it will likely wear out and break faster than a medium duty or HD unit.. same with a medium duty unit.. to a slightly lesser degree. However.. don't view the HD unit as being unbreakable. A car tire rim hidden in grass can grenade a gearbox on a 1500$ mower or a 600$ mower.. I've seen it happen. the GC i work for has to do some moinor ROW clearing and maintenance.. we used to use the very expensive mowers.. After a couple years we were seeing high repalcement rates on even high end mowers due to 'burried treasure'.. we swapped to buying economy mowers.. guess what.. we loose just as many!.. only we pay about 1/3 the price.. doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that if yuo are loosing (2) 1500$ mowers per year, or (2) 600$ mowers per year what direction you need to go in... the numbers on the books don't lie. In our case.. we -know- the mowers are going to be running into bad roadside debri.. and we expect the losses. thae average comercial or home-owner mower likely won't see the nasty tires and concret blocks, and tree stumps and ac compressors that we run into.. etc.

Pick your poison and go.

You have again stated you are going to be doin light duty weed chopping.. unless I have read something wrong.

soundguy

Well, as the original poster I guess I should chime in as to exactly what I wanted to know. First off, let me first say that I am a big fan of getting the good stuff and using it until it dies.

In this case I am on a budget and do not foresee using this cutter for anything other that mowing weeds and grass. So what I really want to know is, do the cheaper brands fall apart no matter how they are used or if used as they were intended will they last indefinitely as long as maintained properly?

If I use the medium duty Howse unit ($926.00 I believe) as only a mower and not as a tool for clearing 2" to 3" saplings will it last as long as a more expensive unit that is not used as conservatively?

At this point it sounds to me that the Bush Hog is a bit of a luxury as it costs about $500 more that the medium duty Howse. I am leaning to wards this Howse unit as a good compromise. Please keep the info coming as I am still not set.

Tom

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The kicker to that is that $$ does not equal quality.. on either side of the equation.

Yes.. generally cheaper$$ items are made cheaper and are lighter duty.. etc. And more expensive units are built better.. etc. However I've seen plenty of cases where 2 similarly priced models show quite a bit of disparity between materials and workmanship.

A dealer up the road from me sells KK, howse, kodiak, and chinese implements. Looking at mowers, for instance, On the economy side, the howse and KK and kodiak are all within 50$ of price, and the chinese mower was about 100$ cheaper. The chinese one is visibly cruder.. metal joints that don't match up and don't have good weld beads from edge of joint to edge. Steel quality looks rougher.. not to mention paint/surface quality is rougher.. some suspension struts and members look inferior to the other 3 units. The KK and the howse were of similar quality, materials and workmanship. the kodiak was somewhere between the chinese and the KK/Howse. Ironically, the gear boxes all looked similar in design and quality... ) From that 'spread', the KK/Howse would be the clear choice out of the group.

Now flip up to larger machines.. for instance.. my HD120 howse 10' mower ( HD model ) vs my JD1517 batwing. The 1517 is considered to be a light duty mower from jd.. but lets face it.. that green painted beast cost lots of money economy or not. Compairing the 2 units.. the howse has heavier metal, just as good looking welds, larger gear boxes, etc.. the list goes on. I'm actually un-impressed witht he actual design of the JD mower.. it's got plenty of spots that just beg to be problems. I looked at Howse's 15' mower ( same dealer as above ).. The howse was 3999$ cheaper than an equivalent new jd unit similar to mine. I hate to say it.. but the howse is built better and cheaper. That JD green paint is just inflating the $$.

If I hadn't of gotten such a good deal on my jd batwing.. I'd have opted for the howse batwing. $=/=value 100% of the time... that was my only point to this post... etc.


soundguy

In a nutshell, you said what I said in an earlier post. Higher cost mowers aren't neccisarily better because they cost more, but the highest quality, heavy duty mowers will generally always fall into the higher cost catagory.

You don't ALWAYS get what you pay for, but odds are, you'll NEVER get what you DON'T pay for.

And we're not talking just product longevity here. I've seen enough evidence that (my personal favorite) certain models of Bush Hog mowers simply do a better job of mowing (finish of cut) over any of the "bargain brands", in most conditions. (Including many "light duty" mowers from high end manufacturers.) I'm all about maintaining a low overhead and saving money. If cheaper would do the job, I'd be all for it. The only mowers that meet an acceptable standard of quality and/or performance (for me) happen to fall into a mid to upper end price range. A lot of my mowing is in conditions that would send chills up and down the spine of the "average user". Even the mowers marketed as medium and/or heavy duty by most of the economy brands wouldn't make it through week one. The only mowers that I'd consider "of substancial quality" happen to be expensive. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my competitors tries to use KK mowers. I've picked up more'n one of his ex customers who declined to have him back for a second round because of poor work performance.

Those JD batwings were actually built FOR Deere by someone else. (I THINK it was Woods at the time your model was built) Woods has a bad rep with their batwings in commercial use, Deere not a lot better. (Multitudes of problems with deck structural integrety) The only brands that seem to hold up to the rigors of everyday use in harsh conditions are Bush Hog, Alamo Group (Rhino, Shulte, Alamo) and Bushwhacker.

 

[RobJ]

This sort of reminds me of the leaf blower thread recently. Someone asks about a good leaf blower, home use, mentions a couple brands. Of course I chime in with my $65 weedeater at walmart and has worked flawlessly for 5 years now(actually I did have to tighten the carb screws for the first time this weekend). Then someone includes a $500 backpack model. Somewhere in the middle I guess. I use mine once a week for maybe 15-20 minutes. Less in the winter when the mowing slows down. The $500 is probably perfect for the commercial guy that runs it 7 days a week for 9 months down here. So because of the use, my $65 unit will probably last longer than the $500 unit(in leaf blower years which is equal to human years!!).

Same with mowers IMO.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

After reading all the replies I thought I would add one more thing,a neighbor down the road from me has a 6 foot howse HD or medium duty mower anyhow it has 6 inch channel sides and a well built deck.I have seen him mow where Iwould"nt take a log skidder and he has never had a problem with his, that is what caused me to believe that they were pretty well built,not to mention the fact that it was $500 cheaper and oh yeah it is over 5 years old.

 

[Tscott9330]

After reading all the replies I thought I would add one more thing,a neighbor down the road from me has a 6 foot howse HD or medium duty mower anyhow it has 6 inch channel sides and a well built deck.I have seen him mow where Iwould"nt take a log skidder and he has never had a problem with his, that is what caused me to believe that they were pretty well built,not to mention the fact that it was $500 cheaper and oh yeah it is over 5 years old.

What Utility do you work for in North Florida?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Gainesville Regional Utilities.21 years

 

[Z-Michigan]

The kicker to that is that $$ does not equal quality.. on either side of the equation.

Yes.. generally cheaper$$ items are made cheaper and are lighter duty.. etc. And more expensive units are built better.. etc. However I've seen plenty of cases where 2 similarly priced models show quite a bit of disparity between materials and workmanship.

*** I hate to say it.. but the howse is built better and cheaper. That JD green paint is just inflating the $$.

soundguy

I'm just going to add - since I'm really mad at Deere right now - I looked up my records and my LX6 cost me $1820, new, one year ago. A Woods, which no longer sounds that great either, was around the same money. A KK would have been around $600-700, I think. I've had more trouble with the LX6 already than I would have expected to have if I had bought the cheapo KK. Now I'm not saying everyone should go cheap, I'm just echoing that it is quite possible to spend lots of money and still get something that isn't very good. I wish I had posted about cutter brands and gotten all this insight before I bought mine. I probably would have searched far and wide to get a Bush Hog if I had (they're not common at dealers in my area).